Amateur Radio NewslineT Report 1898 - December 27 2013
Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1898 with a release
date of December 27 2013 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.
The following is a Q-S-T. Two astro-hams repair cooling
system on the I-S-S in Christmas Eve spacewalk; ham radio
takes a big step forward in Kosovo; New Zealand's national
ham radio society issues a correction on 6 meter privileges;
the ARRL files comments on its own Symbol Rate petition and
how high altitude balloon mission are tracked. Find out the
details are on Amateur Radio NewslineT report number 1898
coming your way right now.
(Billboard Cart Here)
**
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: ASTRO-HAMS REPAIR ISS COOLING SYSTEM IN
CHRISTMAS EVE SPACEWALK
A pair of United States astronaut hams have made final
repairs to a damaged cooling system on board the
International Space Station. This, during a rare Christmas
Eve spacewalk on Tuesday, December 24th. Amateur Radio
Nrewsline's Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, is in the newsroom with
the details:
--
It was the second Extra Vehicular Activity or E-V-A or
spacewalk in four days for United States astronauts Mike
Hopkins, KF5LJG, and Rick Mastracchio, KC5ZTE, and only the
second Christmas Eve spacewalk ever.
NASA ordered several spacewalks to repair a critical cooling
system on the International Space Station. This after all
nonessential equipment had been turned off when the system
faulted on December 11th causing many science experiments
halted. To solve the problem Mastracchio and Hopkins
removed the faulty ammonia pump during a spacewalk on
Saturday December 21st and installed a spare unit during the
7 « hour E-V-A on December 24th.
According to NASA the replacement was slow going because of
a balky ammonia fluid line that sent frozen flakes of the
extremely toxic substance straight at the two astro-hams.
The spacewalkers reported being surrounded by big chunks of
the material that bounced off equipment and their space
suits. The ammonia needed to dissipate from their suits
before the pair returned inside of the ISS to avoid any
contamination to the orbiting outpost.
But in the end, it was man triumphing over machine. With
this success NASA says that the cooling system should be
restored and all equipment up and running by Sunday the
29th.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF,
in the Newsroom in Los Angeles.
--
NASA's only previous Christmas Eve spacewalk occurred in
1999 during a Hubble Space Telescope repair mission. But
perhaps the most memorable Christmas Eve in space took place
back on December 24, 1968. That's when Apollo 8 astronauts
read from the Bible's Book of Genesis as they orbited the
Moon on mankind's first lunar flight. (NASA, published news
reports)
**
WORLDBEAT: HAM RADIO LICENSING TAKES A BIG STEP FORWARD IN
KOSOVO
Kosovo now has a new base of young ham radio operators.
This as more than four-dozen young people aged 18 to 21 sat
for their ham radio license exam on Saturday, December 14th.
The exam was held in the amphitheater of the Technical
University of Pristina. Of the 52 that were tested, 50
walked away as new amateur radio operators qualifying for a
U.S. General level license.
This group was the first ever to take an amateur radio exam
under the new laws of the Republic of Kosovo. The
procedural framework used follows the U.S. structure, and
several ARRL manuals were given to the national association
for Amateur Radio in Kosovo as well as to the
Telecommunications administrators courtesy of the American
Radio Relay League. (OPDX, French Press, others)
**
RESTRUCTURING: ICASA EXTENDS THE SARL 5 MHZ LICENSE
The Independent Telecommunications Authority of South Africa
or ICASA has extended the South Africa Radio League's 5 MHz
license through the end of January 2014. This follows an
application for the telecommunications regulator to review
the license and grant facilities up to at least the start of
the WRC 2015.
Currently the South Africa Radio League's holds a pilot
license for 5 dot 250 and 5 dot 260 MHz. While it applied
for extension of the license for a further period it also
appealed to the ICASA Chairperson, Dr. Stephen Mnube, to
consider issuing the national society with a long term
authority to use these two frequencies to continue
propagation research.
The South Africa Radio League is currently analyzing the
results of a special weekend 5 MHz activity event held in
early November. The first study using an ionosonde network
has been published and is available for download at
www.sarl.org.za (SARL)
**
RADIO LAW: NZART ISSUES A CORRECTION ON 6 METER OPERATION
The New Zealand Amateur Radio Transmitters or NZART which is
that nation's national ham radio society has issued a
correction to its recent news release regarding the
availability of 6 meters. It says that that a small error
was made in its bulletin number 286 that stated the nations
six meter allocation was 50 to 54 MHz.
This says the NZART is not correct. Rather the 6 meter band
for operational use is from 50 to 53 MHz for all modes at up
to the full legal power limit. It notes that New Zealand
does have limited use of the band from 53 to 54 MHz but only
for approved individually licensed 6 meter repeater outputs.
53 to 54 MHz is not available for general amateur operation.
(NZART)
**
RADIOSPORTS: 2014 WRTC REFEREES APPOINTED
The World Radiosport Team Championship committee has
announced the list of those who will serve as referees for
the 2014 competition.
According to an announcement from the games coordinating
committee a referee will be on site at each of the 59
competing stations to verify compliance with the rules and
make decisions on any rule questions by the teams.
All of the referees will be top level contesters because
they must simultaneously listen to the audio from both
operators for the entire 24 hours of the competition, which
takes place in July 2014 in the North-Eastern United States.
A complete list of those selected to act as referees is on
the web at wrtc2014.org. Also, a short video explaining the
upcoming World Radiosport Team Championship is on YouTube at
tinyurl.com/wrtc-2014-usa
(WRTC)
**
DX UP FRONT: AMSTERDAM ISLAND IN JANUARY 2014 UPDATE
In DX up front, Ralph Fedor, K0IR reports that all the
equipment the long awaited Amsterdam Island DXpedition that
had been shipped to New Zealand is now aboard the ship MV
Braveheart. Also that all of the documentation is in order
that that inspections have been completed.
According to Fedor, the vessel was to be fueled for its
voyage to Australia on December 23rd and scheduled to depart
on December 26th for Fremantle, Australia. Meantime the
FT5ZM team members will begin arriving in Fremantle on
January 9th. They will board the Braveheart on January
14th, configure our maritime mobile station, and sail for
Amsterdam Island on January 15th. Landing operations will
commence as soon as the sea conditions and weather allow.
Once the team is ashore, they will have 18 days to set up,
conduct the DXpedition, and tear down for departure.
Fedor says that there will likely be at least one more press
release before they depart. In the meantime you can get
updates at the DXpeditions website at www.amsterdamdx.org or
by following the planning at facebook.com/FT5ZM. And we
will have more DX news for you later on in this week's
newscast. (Various DX News Sources)
**
BREAK 1
Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur
Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world
including the W9YPC repeater serving Markham, Illinois.
(5 sec pause here)
**
RADIO LAW: ARRL FILES COMMENTS ON ITS SYMBOL RATE PETITION
The ARRL has filed comments with the FCC on its own Petition
for Rule Making RM-11708 the so-called "symbol rate"
petition. Although the League rarely files formal comments
on its own petitions, ARRL General Counsel Chris Imlay,
W3KD, citing the high level of interest in the proceeding,
said that this is clearly an exceptional circumstance.
Amateur Radio Newsline's Stephen Kindord, N8WB has the
details:
--
As previously reported ARRL sponsored RM-11708 proposes to
drop the symbol rate limit as outlined in Part 97.307(f) of
the FCC Amateur Service rules and substituting a maximum
occupied bandwidth of 2.8 kHz for High Frequency data
emissions. And in its newly filed comments the League noted
the large number of comments that have been filed thus far
indicate that the issue of data communications is an
important one in the Amateur Radio Service.
In general, the ARRL says that its petition would have no
effect on the High Frequency subbands where phone and image
emissions are already permitted. It noted that the petition
would not permit digital voice transmissions in the data and
RTTY sub-bands because digital voice is defined in the
Commission's rules as voice not data. Also the petition
would have no effect on CW operation in the High Frequency
bands either, and restrictions on automatically controlled
digital stations would remain as they are now.
The ARRL also took pains to address the proposed 2.8 kHz
maximum bandwidth for High Frequency data emissions. It
noted that some comments say that bandwidth's greater than
2.8 kilohertz for data should be permitted in order to
permit a wider array of data emissions now and in the
future. Others argue that 2.8 kHz is too wide, potentially
allowing usurping of the band to the detriment of CW and
other narrow-bandwidth emissions. But the League says that
its recommended 2.8 kHz maximum is an attempt to balance two
competing objectives. This by facilitating the use of
current and future data emissions while protecting against a
situation where a few data stations could take over a band.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Stephen Kinford, N8WB,
reporting.
--
The League's petition now tops the FCC's Most Active
Proceedings list. As of the December 23rd deadline more
than 850 comments had been filed.
(ARRL)
**
HAM HAPPENINGS: KIDS DAY JANUARY 5th - 1800 TO 2400 UTC
The next Kids Day, jointly sponsored by the ARRL and The
Boring Oregon Amateur Radio Club, will be held on Sunday,
January 5th. This event runs from 1800 to 2400 UTC and is
an excellent opportunity to showcase both ham radio and
amateur radio satellites to youngsters while giving them
some hands-on experience.
The suggested frequencies on the High Frequency bands
are 28.350 to 28.400 MHz, 24.960 to 24.980 MHz, 21.360 to
21.400 MHz, 18.140 to 18.145 MHz, 14.270 to 14.300 MHz,
7.270 to 7.290 MHz, and 3.740 to 3.940 MHz. Repeater
contacts, with permission of the repeater's sponsor are also
welcome while satellite contacts may prove to be the biggest
thrill.
Be sure to observe third-party traffic restrictions when
making DX contacts. All participants are encouraged to post
stories and photos to the Kids Day Soapbox page and are
eligible to receive a colorful certificate. You can
download the free certificate customized with participating
youngsters' names, after filling out the Kids Day Survey.
Both are on the web at arrl.org/kids-day. (ARRL)
**
RADIO BUSINESS: CQ TO CONSOLIDATE PUBLICATIONS
CQ Communications, Inc. has announced plans to realign its
roster of publications and to launch a new online supplement
to its flagship CQ Amateur Radio magazine. Effective with
the February 2014 issue of CQ, content from the magazine's
three sister publications, Popular Communications, CQ VHF
and WorldRadio Online, will be incorporated into CQ's
digital edition as a supplement to be called CQ Plus.
According to Publisher Dick Ross, K2MGA, while their primary
audience is ham radio operators, very few hams began their
radio involvement as amateurs. Most started out as
shortwave listeners, broadcast band DX'ers, CB'ers or
scanning enthusiasts. Ross says that many continue to be
involved in various different aspects of the radio hobby in
addition to amateur radio. K2MGA notes that by
consolidating four specialized publications into one, that
CQ will be better able to keep these multidimensional
readers informed on all aspects of the radio hobby while
simultaneously exposing those who are not hams to all the
excitement and opportunities that amateur radio has to
offer.
Richard Fisher, KI6SN, who is currently Editor of both
Popular Communications and WorldRadio Online will become the
Editor of CQ Plus. Current subscriptions to Popular
Communications, CQ VHF and WorldRadio Online will be
converted to CQ subscriptions and receive CQ Plus at no
additional charge. Details will be posted on each magazine
website. In the meantime a preview of the February issue's
Table of Contents is available right now on the CQ website
at tinyurl.com/cq-february-2014.
(CQ)
**
RADIO BUSINESS: HRD TO CONTINUE SUPPORT TO WINDOWS XP USERS
HRD Software has announced that it will continue to support
Ham Radio Deluxe on the Windows XP Service Pack 3 platform
beyond April 8, 2014. This for as long as it is technically
and commercially reasonable for them to do so, and there is
no external dependency.
For example, if the manufacturers of radios, rig interfaces,
or soundcards discontinue making drivers that work on
Windows XP and you should purchase one of these devices, Ham
Radio Deluxe would not be able to work with it. These same
companies may discontinue support for older products that
currently work on Windows XP and this could prevent trouble
shooting.
HRD Software says that it recognizes that many operators may
have no desire to upgrade their operating system or their
computer. Microsoft provides some guidance to users of in
this regard. HRD Software says that it will refer its
customers to guidance provided by Microsoft in these
instances.
More information on HRD Software products is on the web at
www.ham-radio-deluxe.com (HRD via Southgate)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: RETIRED ASTRONAUT CHRIS HADFIELD VA3OOG
PREDICTS MOON BASE WITHIN 70 YEARS
Some names in the news. First up is retired Canadian
astronaut Chris Hadfield, VA3OOhG who has predicted that
humans will have a colony on the moon within the next 30 to
40 years and establish a base on Mars within the next 70.
In a recent interview with the Telegraph newspaper, Hadfield
said that this is a pattern we have been following for the
last 70,000 years. He noted mankind gradually made its way
around the world. In the last 100 years we have gotten to
Antarctica and now there are people who live there for
months at a time.
VA3OOG went on to say that he thinks that within his
lifetime we will see a permanent lunar base. Also that the
setting up of a permanent habitation on the Moon will help
to improve space exploration.
Hadfield gained fame for tweeting pictures of space and
performing his own version of David Bowie's "Space Oddity"
during his command of the International Space Station this
past year. He retired from the Canadian Space Agency last
June and is currently on tour promoting his new book "An
Astronaut's Guide To Life on Earth."
You can read the entire interview with Chris Hadfield,
VA3OOG on the web at tinyurl.com/Hadfield-Moon-Future.
(Telegraph)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: G3VBA APPOINTED GB2RS MANAGER
The Radio Society of Great Britain Board of Directors has
appointed Ken Hatton, G3VBA as Manager of station GB2RS
effective as of January 1st of 2014. According to the
announcement Hatton first became interested in amateur radio
as a schoolboy and has been licensed 47 years. He replaces
Gordon Adams, G3LEQ in this post. (RSGB)
**
BREAK 2
This is ham radio news for today's radio amateur. We are
the Amateur Radio Newsline with links to the world from our
only official website at www.arnewsline.org and being
relayed by the volunteer services of the following radio
amateur:
(5 sec pause here)
**
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: GREEN POWER SET TOP BOXES
The Department of Energy has reached a deal with
environmental and business groups on new energy efficiency
standards for cable and satellite television set-top boxes.
The department reached the agreement along with the Natural
Resources Defense Council, the American Council for an
Energy-Efficient Economy, the Appliance Standard Awareness
Project, the Consumer Electronics Association and the
National Cable and Telecommunications Association. The
accord will improve efficiency on these units by 10 to 45
percent, over the next three years depending on the type of
box. By 2017, about 90 percent of the set-top boxes in
American homes will work as well as the most energy
efficient devices currently on the market.
In the end, the agreement will save about $1 billion in
energy costs for more than 90 million American homes each
year, but won't lead to new industry regulations. Instead,
the energy efficiency standards will be voluntary.
More is on-line at tinyurl.com/energy-saving-boxes (The
Hill)
**
RADIO IN SPACE: RADIO STARS THAT ARE INSTANTLY KILLED BY
BLACK HOLE BIRTH
Scientists have found that a new type of exploding radio
star that dies completely by exhausting all its energy in
one single energy burst before collapsing into a black hole.
According to a new research by astronomers at the Centre for
All-Sky Astrophysics at Curtin University and the University
of Sydney, these new populations of exploding star use all
their energy to emit one strong last beam of high radiation,
known as gamma-ray burst, They then collapse into a black
hole.
The research, which originally set out to prove the existing
theory that gamma-ray bursts are always followed by a radio
afterglow, discovered that the premise was wrong. Rather
they found that the birth of black holes kill a new type of
exploding radio star.
The researchers used a technique of stacking 200 separate
observations on top of each other to re-create the image of
a gamma-ray burst in much better quality, but the image
depicted no signs of radio afterglow. They said that those
stars that collapse to form a neutron star have energy left
over to produce the radio afterglow, while those that become
black holes put all their energy into one final powerful
gamma-ray flash.
The researchers say that new work is required to test and
verify the team's findings, adding that the findings give
them a whole new look to understand gamma-ray bursts. They
add that so far this work has shown that being wrong is
sometimes more interesting than being right.
You can read more on this newly discovered phenomena at
tinyurl.com/new-star-theory. (IBT)
**
RADIO NEAR SPACE: HOW HIGH-ALTITUDE BALLOON MISSIONS STAY
ON TRACK
The United Kingdom's Register reporter Lester Haines has
interviewed Daniel Richman, M0ZDR about Cambridge University
Space Flight Landing Predictor.
Rob Anderson wrote the original landing predictor for High
Altitude Balloons back in 2008. Since then it's been
continually updated to improve performance, and now offers
anyone wanting to send a balloon aloft the chance of seeing
very just where its likely to burst and where they should
head to recover the payload.
Others who have worked on improving the predictor in the
past five years are Fergus Noble M0NBL, Ed Moore M0TEK, Jon
Sowman M0JSN and Adam Greig, M0RND. You can read the entire
article at tinyurl.com/balloon-flight-article. The program
itself is at predict.habhub.org. (Southgate)
**
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: SAUDISAT 1C CELEBRATES 11 YEATS ON ORBIT
A Happy 11th birthday to Saudisat 1 C. Better known as SO-
50, Saudisat 1 C is a Saudi Arabian pico-satellite that was
launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 17:00
UTC on December 20th, 2002. The bird is equipped with a
Mode J FM repeater operating on a 2 meter uplink and a 440
MHz downlink. As such, most hams already own the necessary
equipment to work SO-50. (K6LCS)
**
DX
In DX, DK3ID who also holds the call OE8IDK will be
operational from Lesotho as 7P8ID between February 11th to
the 16th. Activity will be on 40 through 6 meters on SSB
only. QSL via DK3ID or OE8IDK direct only.
EA5BYP is planning a trip to Annobon Island to be active as
3C0BYP, and Bioko Island where he will use the call 3C4BYP.
Specific dates have not been announced but the operations
will happen fairly soon. QSL via his home callsign.
ON4EZ will be active stroke 5-Zed-4 from Kenya between
through January 6th. No other details were provided. QSL as
directed on the air.
F5VHJ will once again be active as TO5A, from FM5BH's QTH
during the ARRL International DX SSB Contest on March 1st
and 2nd. Logs will be uploaded to Logbook of the World. QSL
via F5VHJ either direct or by the Bureau.
Lastly, ZS6ALB is once again on the air as C91KHN from
Mozambique. Activity has been on 10 and 6 meters. Logs
will be uploaded to Logbook of the World and Clublog. QSL
direct via his home callsign.
(Above from various DX news sources)
**
THAT FINAL ITEM: AUSTRALIA SEES NEW HIGH FOR DIGITAL RADIO
LISTENING
And finally this week, Australia seems to have become one of
the world leaders in digital radio broadcasting as we hear
from Amateur Radio Newsline's Cheryl Lasek, K9BIK:
--
According to Commercial Radio Australia, a new survey shows
that DAB Plus devices account for more than 12.7 percent of
weekly radio listening in that nations five state capitals.
Time spent listening via a DAB Plus digital radio device
also adds up to 12 hours, more than double that of radio
listening via the Internet.
DAB+ interest in the Asia Pacific is currently at an all
time high with Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia all hosting
DAB Plus technology and transmission workshops. Also truck
and bus manufacturer Fuso now includes DAB Plus digital
radio as standard, increasing the number of Australian
vehicle manufacturers offering this digital radio system as
a standard feature or as an option.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Cheryl Lasek, K9BIK, in
Zion, Illinois.
--
The other Australian auto makers committed to DAB Plus so
far include Ford, Land Rover, Jaguar, Mercedes, Toyota,
Lexus, BMW, Audi, Hino and Isuzu Trucks. (RW)
**
NEWSCAST CLOSE
With thanks to Alan Labs, AMSAT, the ARRL, the CGC
Communicator, CQ Magazine, the FCC, the Ohio Penn DX
Bulletin, Radio Netherlands, Rain, the RSGB, the Southgate
News, TWiT-TV and Australia's W-I-A News, that's all for
this year from the Amateur Radio NewslineT. Our e-mail
address is newsline (at) arnewsline (dot) org. More
information is available at Amateur Radio Newsline'sT only
official website located at www.arnewsline.org. You can
also write to us or support us at Amateur Radio NewslineT,
28197 Robin Avenue, Santa Clarita California, 91350
For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors' desk,
I'm Hal Rodgers, K8CMD, saying 73 and a very Happy New Year.
See you in 2014 and as always, we thank you for listening.
Amateur Radio NewslineT is Copyright 2013. All rights
reserved.